Our last night/morning in Paris was rather exciting, as I had to change our Lufthansa flight twice as Ford spent the early morning in the ER (everything was fine in the end, but it was an exciting morning nonetheless).

We were on an 11:25AM flight from Paris to Frankfurt, and got to Charles de Gaulle Airport at around 10AM. CDG is such a cluster, and we headed straight to Terminal 1, Satellite 6, where Lufthansa departs from. After going through the hamster tubes (if you’ve departed the airport you know what I’m talking about) and most poorly designed moving walkways ever, we were airside in Satellite 6. On the plus side, security was super quick, and we were through in just a few minutes.

Walkway to Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1 Satellite 6

Terminal 1 Satellite 6 is pretty terrible. The terminal is tiny, yet has quite a few flights departing from it. So crossing through the terminal can be a bit of a challenge when a flight is boarding.

Horrible Terminal 1 at CDG

After going through security we turned right and walked to the end of the terminal.

Direction of Lufthansa Lounge CDG Airport

Then we turned right and took the elevator down a level, which is where the Lufthansa Lounge is located.

Direction of Lufthansa Lounge CDG Airport

Entrance to Lufthansa Lounge CDG Airport

The lady at the desk wasn’t especially friendly. She didn’t say a word as we entered, and after scanning our boarding passes pointed us towards the Business Lounge. When she did I said “we are connecting in first class to Los Angeles, can’t we use the Senator Lounge?”

She rudely responded with “Why does it matter? The lounges are the same.”

Now, while I agree that Lufthansa doesn’t do enough to differentiate their Senator Lounges and Business Lounges, that’s a rather ridiculous response to someone asking to use the lounge they’re entitled to use. I would have responded with “I’d ask you the same question then,” but figured that wouldn’t get me anywhere. So instead I said “I’m sorry, are we not allowed to use that lounge?” She sighed, and then told us we could use the Senator Lounge.

This entire lounge is a bit of a dungeon, given that it’s underground with no natural light. Inside the entrance and to the left was a business center with a row of desks.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge business center CDG

Past that were a couple of sitting area with leather loungers.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge seating CDG

The ones towards the back of the lounge were facing a TV, which had the volume turned up quite loud.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge seating CDG

In the back section of the lounge was the self serve food and drink area, which had some high-top seating, dining tables, and also some tables set up along a booth.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet area CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge seating CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge dining area CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge dining area CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Lufthansa is a remarkably consistent airline — as you’d expect from the Germans, I suppose — so the lounge interiors and food & drink selection are remarkably similar everywhere. I’ll let the pictures of the breakfast spread speak mostly for themselves.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge buffet CDG

Then in terms of drinks, there was a coffee machine, a liquor selection, two beer taps, a soda fountain, and bottled water and juice.

Lufthansa Senator Lounge coffee machine CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge soda fountain CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge drink selection CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge beer CDG

Lufthansa Senator Lounge liquor selection CDG

Overall while the food and drink selection were fine, the lounge is a dark dungeon, so it’s not an especially nice place to pass time. I’d note that there’s also a Star Alliance Lounge in Terminal 1 which I guess we could have used, but it’s before security. Given what a crazy morning it had been, we just wanted to get past security as quickly as possible and be done with, which is why we used the Lufthansa Lounge.

Lufthansa A320 CDG Airport

I won’t be reviewing the Lufthansa flight from Paris to Frankfurt, as it was the same as all other Lufthansa intra-Europe flights. The seats were uncomfortable (just economy with a blocked middle seat), the service was friendly, and the snack was, um….

Lufthansa business class snack from Paris to Frankfurt

Lufthansa Senator Lounge Paris bottom line

While the lounge is better than the horrible satellite terminal out of which Lufthansa departs, that’s about the only good thing I can say about it. The lounge is a bit of a dungeon with no natural light, and has a similar spread to most other Lufthansa Senator Lounges. Given the choice, I’d definitely use the Star Alliance Lounge instead.

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About luckyBen Schlappig (aka Lucky) is a travel consultant, blogger, and avid points collector.
He travels about 400,000 miles a year, primarily using miles and points to fund his first class experiences.
He chronicles his adventures, along with industry news, here at One Mile At A Time.

Comments

Is there a chance LH is finally changing its strategy of running two lounges even at outstations like this? Their brand new setup at BOS is fantastic, with a single far superior “Business” lounge in place of two mediocre ones.

Not that I agree with the agents attitude, she atleast got it right that the two lounges are identical.
I’ve used the “business lounge” a couple of times and if it weren’t for the lackluster food options outside, I wouldn’t have gone.

I have also used the Star Alliance Lounge and it is indeed a much better place to spend some time (albeit it still feels like a dungeon!)

@CalStanford, the only thing LH does right is First Class. In particular its first class ground services, even at outstations. Earlier this month I flew JFK-FRA in F. At JFK, I was escorted straight to the front of the security line and directly to the lounge! And the JFK First Class “Wining and Dining” facility is fantastic, with numerous 25-year aged single malt whiskies that retail at $800-1000 a bottle, such as Dalmore 25 and Balvenie 25 (yes, I had a few drams before the flight).

Fwiw, the Star Alliance lounge is actually a fair bit nicer, especially the quiet zone to the left downstairs. Food isn’t all that much different, but it’s far bigger with tons of natural light and even a little garden thingy. Also has showers.

However, it doesn’t do you much good on Lufthansa/Austrian/Polish/etc, since it’s on the other side of the customs wall within T1. So only those on United/Singapore/Turkish/Air China can access it (Air Canada is over in T2). It may serve others, but those are the *A airlines on the correct side of the magical divide within that terminal.

What’s funny about the whole T1 being a Star Alliance terminal is the lack of Air Canada (in T2 next to American/BA), yet OneWorld airline Qatar is in T1 with a horrible little lounge with no logical connections in the same terminal). Realistically those two should just do a swap and call it done. AC would be with all the other *A airlines, and Qatar would have space for a nice lounge. And the world airline order would be logical again.

@Patrick; Take a look at GeoBlue, from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. I’ve had a “Trekker” travel medical insurance policy with them for years. Fortunately I’ve never had to use it, but it provides great coverage for only USD 220 per year. To me, it’s a small price to pay for the piece of mind it provides.

@Patrick; I should mention that the GeoBlue rate varies based on the age of the insured. Premiums increase as the age of the insured increases. The Trekker policy is valid for multiple trips of up to 70 days duration per trip, and covers medical evacuation up to USD 500,000. There are less expensive policies available too.

Hah, it seeems you had the same “friendly” lady as I had. After a delay, we missed our connection in CDG, had to clear immigration and re-check our bags (wtf!?). After 3h (!!), we finally arrived at the lounge. The first thing the lady said, was “as you fly Business and can eat in the Lounge for free, you won’t get any meal compensation!”.
Merci beaucoup, Madame…

Ya gotta hate CDG. The worst terminal of the airport and the *A gets to use it.
I’ve flown into, out of, and thru that Terminal multiple times and I HATE the lounge policy of LH.
One day I flew in on UA Business into CDG and was waiting for an associate on another *A carrier so I was going to wait in the LH lounge for two hours for his flight to arrive. First of all, its very easy to miss the signage for the LH lounge, then when you get there, they say you can’t use the lunge because you don’t have a ticket of onward travel??? I must say they stood their ground in a friendly manner. They suggested I try the *A lounge. So, I went to the *A lounge which is pre-security and they also refused access saying the lounge was small and only for ticketed pax on an outgoing flight. Funny there is NO signage about this on the entrance door (which I pointed out) as well as no mention of this on the *A website lounge finder. Sorry – no entrance. I posted something about this to the Star Alliance Facebook page and they “would be looking into this”……

I am surprised by the rudeness or coldness of the lounge attendant – they are usually quite friendly and professional. And there is a difference in f & B offerings, seating between the two lounges.

@RM: Austrian/OS operates out of CDG T2D and uses the contract Sheltair Lounge near gate 56. OS should really be near its fellow Star Alliance partners in T1, but that is my opinion. The Sheltair Lounge is ok in size and natural light, and is one level up from the departure area. However, the food options in the lounge are downright awful looking. NO ONE touches the food there as the food really does look that bad.

@Lucky, I loved the LH Senator lounge at FRA, but it is a little different… That’s the first place I ever had a “caffe crema”, and it’s probably my favorite way to make coffee now. And WTF is the horseshoe thing on your tray? Pickled vegetables in aspic?

@Andy although it seems like you were blindsided by this, airline lounges are in pretty much every case for departing and connecting passengers. Some airlines have dedicated arrivals lounges post-security but in general that is not what airside lounges are for.

When you are used to navigate this terminal it’s super fast. It’s my favorite one at CDG. The new fast track at arrival is amazing and they have a new procedure for priority luggages that arrive far before the other ones.
This lounge is crappy, so is the SAS lounge. I always go non-schengen to the star alliance lounge and thanks god they have a nice open air rooftop terrace for smokers.
T1 is amazing compare to others but LH should ashamed of their operations there (since they have fired all the LH staff and use handlers for everything it’s worst than ever).

The food looks like the same “dog vomit” a colleague sent in a photo taken last summer in DL Business Class last summer, ATH/JFK.
And the lounge, I believe, could be in the space use by BA, T1, back in the late 80’s.

Looks a tad bit better than the MUC senator lounges in T2 in the main terminal and outside the border one. Nothing was worse than a 4 day insomnia adventure of the Lufthansa strike and having the joy of spending hours and hours in both after booking all flights on separate PNRs between OW and *A going EDI-LHR-MUC-ORD-DFW and dealing with cancellations and missing the next flights and having to find milesaavers to get back home since things were thousands of dollars. Pretty much on par with the admirals club except had free stale beer and much more boring colours. And had the joy of spending a night landslide in the terminal at MUC was the icing on the cake

@BrooklynBoy: Perhaps, but I have visited the LH Senator Lounge upon arrival in FRA & MUC multiple times with no problem – to do e-mails, etc on arrival with no problem getting in as long as I present a valid same day arriving boarding pass. Same goes for the UA Club lounges – no problem as an arriving pax. Even the Singapore lounge in AMS allowed me in. And the Turkish CIP lounge in Istanbul…..So …?

As for this lounge, it is pretty crap, but the SAS lounge is even worse (except it does have natural light). I just think LH views it as a place people aren’t going to spend a lot of time in, as their CDG traffic is generally O&D.

That said, while T1 could be cleaned up, I actually love that iconic design. Much better than the supermarket look of T2

Also, aren’t you a *G through someone? A3? AV? If so, you should have had access anyway. Of course, the ridiculous officiousness of LH entry dragons is pretty par for the course.

Is there any information on the Terminal 1 renovations? I often travel on UA or LH connecting through or arriving at it, and did not see anything noticeable last June, and a quick internet search did not find anything either. It really does need work, and the only upgrades I have seen are in the shopping area, which is of little interest to me. One thing I learned once, though, was that it was designed by the same architect as a young person who later did all of Terminal 2, though they are very different. I could not find the article again, but one review of his work said something to the effect that his ideas were interesting, but lacking in engineering and utility. Sounds about right (particular as part of 2E collapsed at one point). Terminal 1 at CDG always reminds me that there is something worse than IAD Terminals C/D.

Now, if you only travelled through 2E and 2F, you would wonder why everyone complains about CDG. And I very much like the AF lounges there. But the only arrivals lounge is the AF one. The other airlines like UA and LH really could use one.

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